A coroner has ruled that a Hobart teenager who died after multiple epileptic seizures “would have lived” if his father had not been aggressive towards paramedics in the months before the incident.
17-year-old Codie Anthony Mansell-Moore passed away at his Lutana home on December 10, 2018, after an ambulance crew waited nearly an hour for police backup before entering the property.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart found that paramedics were ‘justifiably afraid’ to enter the house due to a safety alert on the address.
This alert was triggered five months earlier after Codie’s father, Ronald Moore, became aggressive towards paramedics.
While Moore had moved to Devonport and only visited the Lutana house occasionally, the alert remained in place, meaning paramedics wouldn’t enter the house without police assistance.
The ambulance was called at 6:09am, but the crew ‘staged’ around the corner from Codie’s house for almost an hour.
They didn’t enter until 6:57am, after waiting for police who were delayed in responding and found Codie in asystole – meaning his heart had stopped.
McTaggart said Mansell-Moore had missed his dose of anti-seizure medication the night before he died as he had not yet filled his prescription.
“If [Ronald Moore] had not engendered fear in the attending paramedics six months previously by his behaviour, the paramedic crew … would have entered the address shortly after 6.16am and Codie would have lived,” she said.
“This case demonstrates that aggressive or violent behaviour towards AT paramedics can be directly linked to poor outcomes for patients.”
“It is completely unacceptable for those professionals tasked to help in medical emergencies to be subjected to such behaviour.”
“It is also unacceptable that patients requiring urgent treatment may be prevented from receiving it due to no fault of their own.”
McTaggart recommended Ambulance Tasmania develop a procedure to manage safety alerts and that the ambulance service and Tasmania Police review how they collaborate.
Since Mansell-Moore’s death, Ambulance Tasmania and Tasmania Police have been working to improve the system for safety alerts requiring police assistance.
